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House Of Representatives Pass Senate Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill; President Biden Planning To Tour Country Promoting Recently Passed Bipartisan Senate Infrastructure Bill; Interview With Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA); At Least Eight People Die In Crowds At Astroworld Music Festival; Psychiatrist Discusses Negative Mental Health Impacts Of Current Climate Crisis; Nearly All White Jury Selected for Ahmaud Arbery Murder Trial In Georgia; U.S. Economy Adds 531,000 Jobs In October According To Monthly Report. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired November 06, 2021 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Dave Dein, thank you so much. All the best to you. Hopefully it is a smooth road ahead for you.

DAVE DEIN, CO-FOUNDER, NEXT GENERATION IN TRUCKING ASSOCIATION: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: All right.

Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with a monumental win for the Biden presidency and plans for a victory lap. After months of Democratic Party infighting and hours of tense negotiations, the House finally passed his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill late Friday. Today the president touted the bill at the White House, and CNN has now learned that Biden and his top cabinet officials plan to hit the road and tour the country in the coming weeks to promote the benefits of this bill.

For more now on these developments, let's bring in Arlette Saenz at the White House. What more are you learning about the president's plans?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, President Biden is planning on hitting the road very soon to sell this plan directly to the American people. The White House says that they want to ensure that Americans know what benefits they will be receiving from that $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that the president will soon be signing into law.

On top of the president, he will also deploy several of his cabinet officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, as they are further trying to explain the things that are included in this bill. But today here at the White House, President Biden really took a

victory lap, celebrating this moment as he and his administration have been trying hard to get this across the finish line for months now. Take a listen to some of the benefits that the president touted as he spoke here at the White House earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A once in a generation investment that's going to create millions of jobs, modernize our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our broadband, a whole range of things, to turn the climate crisis into an opportunity. And it puts us on a path to win the economic competition of the 21st century that we face with China and other large countries and the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: The president also calling this a blue-collar blueprint for the country, and it really includes historic investments in roads, rails, bridges, those traditional forms of infrastructure, also, when it comes to broadband and clean and accessible water. There's also going to be a bunch of electric vehicle charging stations across the country, something that Biden has really been touting about implementing since he ran for president back in 2020.

But while the work is behind them on getting that bipartisan infrastructure bill passed, they still need to push forward on that larger social safety net package that's around $1.9 trillion. Moderates and progressives came to an agreement last night, with moderates assuring progressives that they would vote for that proposal the week of November 15th.

But there are still some questions whether moderates will hold firm to that commitment, and then what happens to the bill once it heads over to the Senate, where Senator Joe Manchin and others have said that they might want to see changes.

But for now, the White House is certainly celebrating this moment. The president is saying that he was happy he could finally call this infrastructure week, as they are finally getting the legislative win that he's been hoping for several months now, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Arlette Saenz, thank you so much, from the White House. A little quieter now.

SAENZ: Yes.

WHITFIELD: With me is Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs of California. Congresswoman, so good to see you. So earlier in the evening last night you were a holdout for voting yes on the bill. What changed your mind?

REP. SARA JACOBS, (D-CA): I have long said that we should do both bills together, and that they go together as a single package that is the president's full agenda. As it became clear that we had the agreement to be able to pass the second bill, just not yesterday, I took the president at his word and his masterful leadership in getting us to where we were.

And I had conversations with my colleagues from across the caucus, from every end of the ideological spectrum, and I was confident that if we got the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last night, that we would have the votes in place to pass the Build Back Better Act next week when we're back from recess.

So I'm curious to know what was in those conversations, because while you're a member of the Progressive Caucus, which vowed for weeks to not vote for the infrastructure bill unless the president's spending bill was also voted on. As you just said, you were feeling that way for a while. Six Democratic members of the Protest Caucus ultimately did continue to vote against this bill.

The president says he's confident that the social safety net bill will pass. But then are you demonstrating that same kind of confidence from those conversations, why were some, their heels so dug in that they were not willing to budge on this? And might that also hold things up for the social spending bill?

[14:05:11]

JACOBS: I feel very confident that we have the votes in the caucus to pass the Build Back Better Act. Everyone I've talked to knows how transformative the investments will be in childcare and the expanded child tax credit in the climate change provisions.

As the day started yesterday, every single member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus was ready to vote for both bills. But as it became clear that we did not have the votes for the second bill yesterday, some people felt like it wasn't the right decision. And I think it's actually great that we are the kind of party where everyone feels like they can make the decision that's best for them and their constituents.

And at the end of the day we got it done, and I'm confident that we are going to get the Build Back Better Act passed. And I actually think we're in a really good place where we have everyone in the caucus agreeing to what is in the current text, which is truly more than I thought we were going to get. It is a transformative piece of legislation.

WHITFIELD: So what was the turning point for you? Because you sound really confident, and I'm sure the president would be happy to hear that, because he, too, sounded very confident this morning. And It's been a very touch-and-go, not just the last week, but for a few months. But what has been the turning point for you in your optimism?

JACOBS: For me, it was two things. One, the conversations that I myself was having with members of our caucus, where I looked them in the eyes and got commitment that they were ready to vote for the Build Back Better Act as it was written as long as the CBO score comes back as deficit neutral, which I expect it to. And the second is the president. He has been so involved in this

process, and he told us he would let us know when it was time, that when he was feeling confident he had the votes, he wouldn't ask us to take a vote that he wasn't sure he'd be able to deliver. And I trust the president to get this done.

WHITFIELD: And what do you feel like the president said in those last- hour conversations? He wouldn't reveal the people that he had those conversations with, but what do you think the content was that made him appear to you and to others to be so much more involved and engaged in helping to twist arms or convince people to vote in favor of the infrastructure plan?

JACOBS: The fact of the matter is when your president says he needs you, almost all of us are going to step up and say yes. And that's what happened. He had the conversations he needed to feel confident that we have the votes. I think all of us were also having our own conversations.

And at the end of the day, I trust the president both to deliver this bill in the House and to deliver it in the Senate with the help of our amazing House leadership, like Speaker Pelosi. I really think that we are going to get this done before Thanksgiving in the House, and it's going to be so transformational for families across the country.

WHITFIELD: In what way? You represent San Diego, and you believe your constituents will benefit greatly from both of these measures. In what way?

JACOBS: Oh, 100 percent. So in my district, prior to COVID-19, 60 percent of families couldn't find childcare that met their needs. And we know that it has only gotten worse since the pandemic. And so the investments in childcare, universal pre-k, are going to have huge impacts for my constituents.

I've got to tell you, when I'm talking to them at home, regardless of their political affiliation, if they have kids, they are struggling to afford and find childcare. So this is going to directly impact the thing that families are feeling the most right now.

Additionally, the child tax credit, the expansion of it, already over 100,000 kids in my district alone are feeling the benefit of that. We've cut childhood poverty in half with the ones that have already gone out, and next year it's going to be even more impactful. There are so many things that families are going to start feeling right away in this bill, and I'm so excited that we're going to be able to deliver that for them.

WHITFIELD: So Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is a big obstacle when it comes to getting this spending bill passed. What's your message to him?

JACOBS: My message is that this bill is actually the most fiscally responsible thing we can do. We lose over $1 trillion in GDP to the cost of child poverty in this country, we lose another $1 trillion to the cost of having women out of the workforce, mostly because they can't afford or find childcare.

We know that every dollar we invest in early learning and children actually saves the government $7 down the road. And I'm on the House Foreign Affairs and House Armed Services Committee, and the investments we're making in the Build Back Better Act are the single most important things we can do to make sure that we are competitive in the global stage and that we are competing with China into the next century.

[14:10:08]

And so this bill is exactly what we need to be fiscally responsible, and I feel confident that we're going to get it through the House and the Senate.

WHITFIELD: All right, Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, thanks so much for taking the time to be with us today.

JACOBS: Of course. Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, eight killed, dozens injured, after a crowd surged at the Astroworld festival in Houston. See the moment when rapper Travis Scott realized something was horribly wrong. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Now to a deadly tragedy at a music festival in Houston. At least eight people were killed and many more injured when a crowd surged a stage at the Astroworld festival. And one of the victims injured in the chaos is just 10 years old. As many as 50,000 people were attending the festival.

[14:15:01]

Rapper Travis Scott seemingly unaware of what was happening as he performed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the -- was that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Earlier in the day Friday, a stampede of people running through the VIP entrance to the event. Several metal detectors and people were knocked to the ground. At least one person was injured during that moment.

CNN's Rosa Flores is covering all of this from Houston for us. Rosa, Travis Scott put out a statement, and what is he saying now?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's go to that statement, Fred. Travis Scott saying, quote, "I'm absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival. Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life."

We also have new details, this coming from Texas Children's Hospital. Yesterday we learned from officials that one 10-year-old, one child was transported to the hospital. Now we're learning from Texas Children that pediatric patients, meaning more than one child, was transported to the hospital. We don't know more, but there's a press conference scheduled at 3:00 p.m. local time. We're hoping to ask more questions about that to see what we can learn.

But here's what we know from authorities. At about 9:15 yesterday, there was about 50,000 people, it was a very crowded scene. That's when the crowd started compressing towards the stage and panic ensued. By 9:38, officials say that this turned into a mass casualty event with multiple people on the ground, according to one officer who was on the scene, on the ground needing medical attention. Some in cardiac arrest, others having other medical issues. A very chaotic scene. And officials say that medics and police were completely overwhelmed.

Now, I talked to one father who was there at the concert with his nine-year-old son, and here's how he described it. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE DAHL, FATHER WHO ATTENDED ASTROWORLD FESTIVAL: Last night we saw them giving compressions to one gentleman for like 30 minutes straight. They couldn't get any security or anybody over to help him. Everybody was throwing bottles and yelling and stuff at the show. But with all the craziness of the show, you can't tell who is yelling to actually help or who is just yelling for the artist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, his little boy, the nine-year-old, I also talked to him. He said he was a little scared, but he was happy that he was OK this morning. Now, authorities say that about 300 people were treated on the scene, 23 were transported to the hospital. Now we're learning from Texas Children that includes more than one child.

Eight individuals have died, according to authorities, but they do warn that because there are individuals who were transported in critical condition, this that number could increase. Those eight individuals have not been identified.

And Fred, we're expecting a press conference here at 3:00 p.m. local time. We're hoping to ask more questions. This, of course, is under investigation with police saying that they are reviewing tape, trying to figure out what happened. Fred?

WHITFIELD: We'll look forward to the update coming up. Rosa Flores, thank you so much in Houston.

Up next, how the climate crisis impacts mental health. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:22:49]

WHITFIELD: As a landmark climate summit continues in Glasgow, one aspect of the climate crisis goes underexamined -- how it impacts mental health. Many people experience PTSD after disasters like the ones that you see on the screen, after things like this hit their community, while others experience that trauma secondhand, manifesting in depression or anxiety, and others still struggle with a nagging fear over the state of the planet and its future.

Dr. Lise Van Susteren is a psychiatrist who focused especially on the trauma of climate change. She's also the co-author of "Emotional Inflammation, Discover Your Triggers and Reclaim Your Equilibrium During Anxious Times." Dr. Van Susteren, so good to see you.

DR. LISE VAN SUSTEREN, PSYCHIATRIST: Thank you for having me. This is a really important conversation. I'm glad we're having it.

WHITFIELD: It really is, and these really are very anxious times for so many reasons. So what is it about the climate crisis that is so potent from a mental health standpoint?

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, we talk a lot about the planetary instability, but there's also a personal instability that comes -- it's not just these devastating storms outside. It's the storms inside. When we see people suffering, when we imagine that they could be suffering, when we contemplate the loss of our belongings, our pets, our houses, our communities, there's an enormous amount of trauma that comes either from having experienced it or from having seen someone experience it, or vicariously knowing others are. So we can plant, we can rebuild, we can restore, but inside those psychological scars are much harder to treat.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy, so you touched on a lot there, because yes, even from the standpoint if you haven't experienced it and you're witnessing it, you then do anticipate, oh, my gosh, what would I do if that happened to me, what if. So are there coping mechanisms for those who haven't experienced it but are anticipating it, versus coping mechanisms for those who have been directly impacted?

[14:25:02]

VAN SUSTEREN: You could say, if you were going to be very nuanced about it, the answer is yes. And I have talked about -- actually popularized the term "pre-traumatic stress." I don't call it a disorder because you can make the case that if you've heard all of the things that the scientists tell us are coming our way and we're upset about it, that that's a natural reaction, that's a healthy reaction. What isn't a healthy reaction is to pretend that it's not happening. And that's the crux of the issue, and it really goes to what we can do.

So you don't want to freak people out, but you don't want to falsely reassure people, either. Telling people and recognizing what it is that we are facing, looking at that uncertainty, the what, when, where and why, figuring that out and then pivoting to, here's what I -- or better even, we can do about it. Make your climate action plan. There's plenty we can do about it.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. So help people in those steps. How do you do that? What is your climate action plan? You're not saying, make sure you've got the proper insurance lined up. You're really talking about how you are as a human being going to process a potential trauma, how you prepare yourself well ahead of you actually experiencing it.

VAN SUSTEREN: So here's what we know. We know that anxiety, stress, et cetera, is most pronounced when we feel uncertainty. So that's the first step. That anxiety is on the ceiling when we feel this uncertainty. Of course, we do feel this uncertainty.

But we can mitigate, lower that uncertainty, by looking at the conditions that are around us. What are we likely in the regions we live in going to suffer, either now or in the future? Get to know the regional issues, get to understand when that could arise, how it could arise, et cetera.

And then, again, this is this very important two-step process. You go from looking at reducing that uncertainty and getting yourself segued to this is what I'm going to do about it. And as I say, when you do something personally, that's one thing.

But we can do things personally, getting ourselves ready to make a quick evacuation. I have a friend who is an E.R. doctor who has goldfish, and they have a Tupperware plastic bin. Their house burned down in the Paradise Fire, a Tupperware bin he can dump those goldfish in. He's not worried about his pets anymore.

But you can go then to what you can do professionally or publicly, joining groups. That's really the magic sauce, being involved with others. And then there's politically, make sure we look at what we can do politically, because upstream policies are really what's going to address not just the symptoms, but the causes.

WHITFIELD: This is so fascinating. So we heard climate activist Greta Thunberg voice a feeling a lot of young people have had when it comes to crisis, and we're acknowledging the problem but we're still not doing enough to solve it. Just take a listen to how she puts it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: This is no longer the climate conference. This is now a global north green wash festival.

(APPLAUSE)

THUNBERG: A two-week long celebration of business as usual, and blah, blah, blah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what are your thoughts when you hear from young people such as her just say, wake up, and don't ignore it, don't become complacent? Because that does seem to be the human response naturally. VAN SUSTEREN: It does, and we could spend a whole day on talking about

the five "d's" of denial, disavow, disconnection, downplaying, et cetera. The kids recognize that they are at the tip of the spear. They know that the cumulative toll of not taking action is going to land on them.

So, of course, their anxiety is much more acute, and I'm seeing an epidemic of climate anxiety in young people. I was the expert witness on the psychological damages to young people in a case against the federal government for inaction. I learned firsthand what goes through their minds. And there's an enormous amount of anguish, despair, outrage, fear.

And they are very compelling because they are new to the world, they haven't been the ones that have emitted all the greenhouse gases or made the lifestyles that are contributing to the problem, but they're disproportionately exposed to it.

WHITFIELD: But it sounds like they also want to take the reins and that teaches us all.

[14:30:00]

Dr. Lise Van Susteren, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate your research and sharing this valuable information.

VAN SUSTEREN: Thanks for giving me this opportunity.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, an emotional day in the courtroom during the murder trial for three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery. That as the judge says there appear to be intentional discrimination in the selection of the jury. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:04]

WHITFIELD: A high profile murder trial is set to continue Monday after an emotional first day in court for the Arbery family. Prosecutors accuse three Georgia men of killing 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery on the basis of a racially charged assumption that he was a burglar. The defendants' lawyers say they acted in self-defense, and the decision will come down to a jury that is almost entirely white.

Criminal defense attorney Page Pate is joining me now to give us some legal analysis. Page, so good to see you. Let's start with the jury. Out of the 12 people, 11 of them are white. How is that possible in a case like this where racial prejudice is at the core?

PAGE PATE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Fredricka, it was almost inevitable to come out like this, really, because if you are a black person, it was so much harder to get through jury selection in this case. The lawyers were questioning them very intensively about, do you know anyone connected to Ahmaud Arbery?

Have you discussed his case in the community? Have you read social media posts? So by the time they got to a pool of qualified jurors, people who said, look, I know about the case, but I still have an open mind, it was 25 percent at that point African American.

So you still could have an almost representative jury of this community, which is about one-third African American. But then the defense struck 11 out of 12 African Americans from the jury, because, presumably, they want a jury that looks like their clients. And here we have three white men who are accused of this murder, and I think how you perceive this evidence is going to be critically important. And for the defense, this is the jury I think they wanted.

WHITFIELD: But it also sounds like you've set the stage for a pretty good argument to have a change of venue, because this area was so saturated with coverage and because it's a small town and it's likely that someone knows somebody knows somebody, who was involved in this case. Why wasn't there a greater push to change the venue?

PATE: Well, that's a great question. Normally to change the venue, it's got to come from the defense, because the idea is the defendants are entitled to a fair trial, it's a Sixth Amendment right, so if you think you're not going to get a fair trial, you file a motion to change the venue.

But we saw this defense team do exactly what they wanted to do. They wanted this trial here. They thought that the demographics would favor them. They thought there was a possibility that people in the community had heard about their clients or had some favorable impression of their clients.

And so now the jury that they're left with are people that do, that do have some familiarity, not just with the facts of the case, but they've seen this video and they don't believe this was murder. So when you think about that and the evidence that we've seen, it's almost incredible to believe there are people that have that impression, but those are the people that are serving on this jury.

WHITFIELD: And the video, as you mentioned, is very graphic. It was hard for Ahmaud Arbery's mom to watch it, but at the same time, she says she felt like she needed to see it, as difficult as it was. There were jurors who actually put their head down, covered their eyes because it was difficult for them to see. So this is going to be impactful.

This is probably the most critical, most important piece of evidence, is it not? And is there a way in which to discern which way the jury will ultimately go just by their visceral reaction to seeing it?

PATE: Well, it's a very difficult video to watch, but it is critically important that we have this video. I don't think there's any doubt that without this video there would be no trial. There would be no prosecution. As you may recall, this shooting happened months before these people were arrested and charged, and that only happened once the video was released, because most people, when they saw this video, they said this is murder, and these people need to be arrested, put in jail, and put on trial. So the state is going to focus on this video. They played it some

during their opening statement. Their first witness talked about it. I bet they're going to have almost every one of their witnesses talking about the video because it is so impactful, it is visceral. That's going to be the reaction of the jury. It's a very strong piece of evidence.

WHITFIELD: Page Pate, good to see you. Thank you so much for being with us.

PATE: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Still to come, the economic recovery is ramping up, so why are everyday Americans still feeling the pinch? An economist joining us next to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:44:07]

WHITFIELD: Happy days are near again, the president getting a much- needed dose of good news this week, and news you could also use. CNN's Christine Romans is here with a closer look at the October jobs report.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hiring roared back in October. Companies added back another 531,000 jobs, and the jobless rate dropped to the lowest since the pandemic began. Even the summer lull in hiring was not as bad as feared. The government revised higher August and September jobs growth. Wages grew a strong 4.9 percent, companies are paying more to attract and retain their workers.

And hiring was spread broadly across industries, in bars and restaurants, offices, plants, factories, warehouses, and on construction sites. Employment in leisure and hospitality has grown by 2.4 million jobs so far this year. And that jobless rate just 4.6 percent. The strong jobs number adds to the picture of a booming American economy bouncing back from the COVID crash.

[14:45:02]

The stock market hitting record highs. Corporate earnings are strong as companies manage well through supply chain disruptions, and U.S. economic growth is on pace for the strongest year in a generation. Next week new government inflation figures will give a read on the rising inflation side of this strong economy.

In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining us right now, not just any economist. You know him well, former Nixon speechwriter, actor and economic commentator Ben Stein. Ben, so good to see you. It's been a long time. BEN STEIN, ECONOMIC COMMENTATOR: My great pleasure, thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much for being with us. So help us understand. These numbers are red hot, but then everyday Americans aren't necessarily feeling it all the time. Why is gap?

STEIN: Well, actually, they are red hot, and most Americans are feeling it.

WHITFIELD: How?

STEIN: And it's incredibly -- how? There are very, very, very few people involuntarily -- very few people who want jobs who can't get them. Almost all the unemployment in America is people who don't want to work and refuse to get jobs.

We are now in a situation we have not been in in a big way since World War II, which is to say there's enormous surplus of people wanting to hire, as compared to those who are wanting to work. We have a huge, huge, huge gap of people who refuse to work. And why they refuse to work, I don't know. But maybe they don't think pay is high enough, maybe they're not feeling well.

But we have a very, very strong economy. And with good reason. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury have been pumping money into this economy at a breathtaking, astonishing rate, and it has paid off. It's an interesting thing, all the theories that we economists were taught in college and graduate school turned out to be true.

At first, they didn't seem to be true, but they're very true right now. They're doing great. The piper has yet to be paid. There will be inflation. We're already seeing some of it, but not much. And probably there is more down the road.

WHITFIELD: And then what happened last night with the infrastructure bill, in that it passed? Do you feel very hopeful about that, particularly because it eluded so many prior administrations? They tried to get infrastructure plans in place and now you've got the passage of this one. How might this change the landscape in your view?

STEIN: I don't think it's going to change the landscape this year, next year, or the year after or the year after that, won't change it very much. And $1.2 trillion is a hell of a lot to you or me, but it is not a lot in the context of an economy of this size, and it will be spread out over a number of years.

But it does add to the deficit. What we're doing, unfortunately, is adding to the deficit at a breathtaking, phenomenal, incredible rate. Eventually, in one way or another, it has to be paid. Either it has to be paid back, or we have to pay the interest on it, or both, or it's going to create inflation. But you cannot endlessly pump money into the economy without it having some effect.

This is -- most of your viewers, I'm sure, do not know about Weimar Germany, but this is a lot like what happened in Germany after World War I. The government faced economic uncertainty and they responded by just printing enormous amounts of money, and this led to inflation on a scale so big that it would take a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread. We're not anywhere near, remotely near that. But anyone who does the shopping, and I do all the shopping in my family, my wife refuses to go into a grocery store, she never has and we've been married 55 years. Anyway, so --

WHITFIELD: Lucky gal.

STEIN: She's a goddess, she's an actual goddess. Anyway, but if you go to the grocery store, you see it, you feel it. You see it especially at the meat counter, fresh fish counter. You see it all over the place. But generally speaking, you really see it when you go to the gas station. But you don't see that much of it. It's coming down the road. I don't see how we can avoid it. But we will eventually have to pay the piper, and the piper will be paid in the form of inflation.

WHITFIELD: Since you're the shopper in the household, then you are feeling and seeing firsthand the whole supply chain problems. So what do you think it's going to take to unleash things, for things to be distributed, for the truckers to get back out there in full force, for those cargos to be offloaded?

STEIN: It's about money, my friend and colleague, it's about money. If they pay enough money, the truckers will --

WHITFIELD: Where is the money coming from?

STEIN: Look, being a trucker is a very, very hard job. It's an incredibly hard job. You try it sometime. It's really, really hard work. They don't pay them enough. They have to pay them more. They have to make their working conditions better.

[14:50:00]

We need more truckers. They deserve to be paid more. They're not being given the respect in terms of money and working conditions they deserve. We'll get them back, but they have to be paid more. That will add to the price of the things we buy at the grocery store or any other store, or even online. And we're going to see a big increase in wages, and they deserve increased wages in the trucking industry. Those guys are underpaid.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Ben stein, we knew you had all the answers.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: That's why we called upon you. We're so glad you said yes. Take care.

STEIN: Honored to be here. Honored to be here. Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: Take care, happy shopping by the way, too, since you like to shop.

Now, how a can of paint and a canvas helped a woman with bipolar disorder find balance. That story in this week's "The Human Factor." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A'DRIANE NIEVES: When I'm painting my pieces, I honestly experience complete freedom. I started experiencing the symptoms of postpartum depression and anxiety pretty severely after the birth of my second son. I remember his cries being such a trigger for me, and I couldn't understand why suddenly my heart was racing, why suddenly I felt detached.

I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder in July of 2011. The intake psychiatrist explained the treatment program. I'm going to start you off with this medication. It's a mood stabilizer. My therapist suggested that I build or create something constructive with my hands. I just remember putting the paint on my hands and on the canvas and moving it around. I felt completely different than I had before, a really transformative moment.

Since I started painting in 2012, I've probably done over 1,000 pieces. I established Tessera Ars Collective to support and amplify the work of black and brown women and non-binary artists who primarily work in abstraction. Because I was looking for something therapeutic, painting continues to be that. It's my career, but, really, it's still therapy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:57:05]

WHITFIELD: A Colorado seventh grader is -- wait for it -- kayaking to school. Nelson Garcia at our affiliate KUSA station explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NELSON GARCIA, REPORTER: In the world of getting things done, there are kids like Josh Smith.

JOSH SMITH: I'm 13. So I can cook eggs, bacon, toast.

GARCIA: He's an active seventh grader at Summit Middle School in Frisco. Like many school districts in Colorado, Summit County has a problems.

JOSH SMITH: When I began school, it was kind of hard. Every day I would have to text or call my mom and say, like, should I ride the bus today? Will they allow me to ride the bus today?

GARCIA: Not enough bus drivers means not enough seats. While sitting down to eat with his dad Jason, Josh said something intriguing.

JASON SMITH, JOSH'S DAD: One night around dinner Josh just said, hey, dad, would you mind if I kayaked to school? And some kids if the say that, you just kind of laugh it off and say, yes, sure, no problem. But I knew if he asked it, he was probably planning on doing it, and I needed to be careful in my response. GARCIA: So when the conditions are right, Josh gets up early to give

up his seat on the school bus.

JOSH SMITH: I would decide to just kayak to school because I always wanted to do something cool that I'll remember for my whole life. And I will remember this for my whole life.

JASON SMITH: I can remember finally pushing him off into the reservoir thinking, what have I just done?

GARCIA: Josh sets out on Dillon Reservoir.

JOSH SMITH: I just throw my bag in the front, hope I don't capsize, and get to school.

GARCIA: The route is two miles long.

JOSH SMITH: I really like how every time I do it, the sun rises when I'm in the middle of the lake, and the whole lake is really smooth like glass.

GARCIA: The view is strictly Colorado.

JOSH SMITH: I just think it's really pretty and stuff, and I think it's worth it.

GARCIA: The danger is real, but dad is always watching.

JASON SMITH: I try to follow him because part of my job as dad is to protect him and keep him from doing stupid stuff or getting in trouble.

GARCIA: If dad is always there.

JOSH SMITH: I always check the time, I always keep an eye on the time.

GARCIA: Why not drive just drive Josh to school?

JASON SMITH: When my now 13-year-old approaches me and wants to do something out of his comfort zone, wants to stretch himself a little bit, wants to do something different, something unique, something that's a challenge, I've got to back that up.

GARCIA: Though the weather over Lake Dillon is changing, Josh still plant plans to get it done.

JOSH SMITH: When the lake freezes over and when it's too cold for me to do it, I'm going to cross-country ski to the school.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow, amazing lessons from both student and parent. Thanks so much to Nelson Garcia at our affiliate KUSA for bringing that to us.

And thank you for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN NEWSROOM continues with Ryan Nobles right now.